Mathematics is the backbone of modern science and a remarkably efficient source of new concepts and tools to understand the “reality” in which we participate. It plays a basic role in the great new theories of physics of the XXth century such as general relativity, and quantum mechanics. The nature and inner workings of this mental activity are often misunderstood or simply ignored even among scientists of other disciplines. They usually only make use of rudimentary mathematical tools that were already known in the XIXth century and miss completely the strength and depth of the constant evolution of our mathematical concepts and tools. I was asked to write a general introduction on Mathematics which I ended up doing from a rather personal point of view rather than producing the usual endless litany “X did this and Y did that”. The evolution of the concept of “space” in mathematics serves as a unifying theme starting from some of its historical roots and going towards more recent developments in which I have been more or less directly involved.
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 21:29:25 +0000